


neighbors

by orphan_account



Category: Naruto
Genre: Anbu Hatake Kakashi, Anbu Nohara Rin, Child Abuse, Child Neglect, Fluff, Gen, Jinchuuriki Nohara Rin, Nohara Rin Lives, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, baby nart!!, clan head ensemble, hiruzen says Ok thats enough, like a lot, proud member of the ninja sandal hate club, rin & kakashi adopt naruto
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-18
Updated: 2020-07-18
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:54:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 12,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24253945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: In all honesty, the orphanage wasn’t half-bad. At least, not to Naruto’s standards. He had a cot and blanket all to himself, and a coloring book with a set of crayons that never seemed to run out, no matter how many pages he’d filled or how many crayons he’d broken. There was always a new set whenever he needed it.So, yeah. The orphanage could have been worse. In fact, as lonely as it was sometimes, he found himself beginning to like it there.Until he didn’t.
Relationships: Hatake Kakashi & Nohara Rin, Hatake Kakashi & Uzumaki Naruto, Nohara Rin & Uzumaki Naruto
Comments: 47
Kudos: 142





	1. this world is not made for you

**Author's Note:**

> um ok so this is my second time reposting this bc i decided i hated the first chapter LMAO so i fixed it

Naruto didn’t know why everyone in Konoha was so mean to him. They called him names that he didn’t understand and looked at him with eyes that brought tears to his own. The other kids at the orphanage wouldn’t let him play with them because they thought he was scary and annoying. All Naruto could wonder was  _ why _ .  _ Why  _ was everyone so mad at him all the time? Did he do something wrong? He was only four, surely they should forgive him for it. 

The only ones who didn’t glare or sneer at him were the ones who couldn’t. The people of the shadows, with their painted faces that reminded him of the animals in the worn-out picture books he’d seen. The shadow-people were always there, in the trees, or on the rooftops. Watching him. The shadow-people talked with their hands instead of their voices, so Naruto never knew what they were saying. He hoped they weren’t calling him names. He hoped they were different.

In all honesty, the orphanage wasn’t half-bad. At least, not to Naruto’s standards. He had a cot and blanket all to himself, and a coloring book with a set of crayons that never seemed to run out, no matter how many pages he’d filled or how many crayons he’d broken. There was always a new set whenever he needed it. 

So, yeah. The orphanage could have been worse. In fact, as lonely as it was sometimes, he found himself beginning to like it there.

Until he didn’t. 

It started when they stopped letting him take baths. He hadn’t had one in almost a week, and he started to think that they had forgotten about him. There were a lot of kids in the orphanage, after all. He wouldn’t blame them for forgetting about one kid. So, Naruto approached one of his caretakers and asked her if they had forgotten to give him a bath. The middle-aged woman made a disgusted noise in the back of her throat then shoved him away, ordering him to stay in his room for the rest of the night. He buried his soft cries into his blanket until he fell asleep.

The neglect didn’t stop with the baths, though. Another week passed and Naruto still hadn’t bathed, but now it had been two days since he was allowed dinner. The caretakers were yelling at him more too, almost every time he stepped out of his room. He didn’t know why. He assumed they must have just gotten sick of him. 

After two days without a meal aside from the scraps he’d stolen from the trash can outside, it happened. Naruto had been trying to sneak away with using a little bit of Daisuke’s toothpaste when the boy wasn’t looking -- Naruto himself had run out months ago -- when a caretaker grabbed him by the wrist, causing him to drop his toothbrush onto the dirty floor, and slapped him once across the face. She started yelling at him, but Naruto couldn’t hear her over the sound of his own cries. 

He was hauled off to his room and all but thrown inside of it, and when the door was shut Naruto allowed him to get a hold of himself and stop his crying. When tears had been cleared away from his eyes, he took a look around his small room and noticed something -- his cot was gone. All he had was a worn blanket and a used up coloring book with broken crayons. 

He had to leave.

He snuck out later that night, when all the lights were off and when he knew the adults were downstairs drinking. He waited until he thought that they had hopefully been drinking long enough for them to be impaired, it would make it easier for him to sneak out. 

He crept down the stairs on quiet feet, gripping his blanket tightly. He noticed that instead of the loud grumbling that he had expected to be coming from the kitchen, where the drunk old women were, there were snores. Raucous ones. Naruto allowed himself to be grateful for that. 

He had to stand on his tip-toes to reach the door handle, and was enormously relieved that the door was unlocked. As he closed it behind him, he allowed a smile to grace his face for the first time in a few weeks. He was  _ free. _

Of course, there was only so much that a four year old knew about freedom.

“What do you mean Naruto ran away from the orphanage?” The Sandaime demanded from the young ANBU in front of him. 

Monkey nodded and continued, “The boy left around ten minutes ago.” 

The third hokage leaned forward onto his desk and pinched his brow between his thumb and forefinger in exasperation. “Where has he headed to?” Hiruzen briefly considered that he was getting too old for this. 

“He was last seen at the academy’s playground. Would you like us to bring him to you, Lord Hokage?” 

Hiruzen shook his head in response, raising to his feet and picking his pipe up from the desk where he had snuffed it out in frustration. “No, thank you, Monkey. I will go to him.” he sighed before continuing, looking at his pipe forlornly, “You are dismissed.” 

Monkey nodded and left, leaving the door open for Hiruzen. The older man was headed to the playground, flanked by two ANBU, minutes later. 

Hiruzen found the boy, as Monkey had said, sitting on a swing outside of the academy. He was shivering slightly, with only an old blanket thrown over his shorts and t-shirt. The hokage frowned before telling the ANBU to go hide, and approaching the blonde boy.

“Hello, Naruto,” the Sandaime plastered a kind smile onto his face. 

Naruto looked over in alarm, his eyes widening as he took in the old man standing in front of him. “Hel… Hello, Mr. Hokage,” his voice was timid and quiet, shock etched onto his face. 

“You must be cold,” Hiruzen started. “It’s a bit late to get food, but you could come back to the tower with me, if you’d like.” He gave the young jinchuuriki another smile.

Naruto responded quickly, nodding vigorously and immediately getting off of the swing, brushing his shorts off as he went. He then paused, looking down at his feet. “Can I really, old man?” 

“Of course, Naruto.” Hiruzen turned around and started his trek to the hokage tower, confident that Naruto would follow. And, true to his predictions, he heard the boys pittering footsteps behind him seconds later.

“So, Naruto,” The Sandaime looked down at the boy out of the corner of his eye as he lit his pipe. “What are you doing out here all alone? It’s a little chilly tonight.”

“The ladies at the orphanage were bein’ super mean to me! N’ I’m gettin’ real sick of people being mean t’ me. So I left when they were sleepin,” The boy rambled, his speech a little stunted and hard to understand. However, Hiruzen had raised three boys, and quickly caught onto what Naruto was saying.

He raised an eyebrow at the blonde, “And how were they being mean to you?”

Naruto huffed and crossed his arms around his dirty blanket. “They wasn’t lettin’ me take baths so the other kids started callin’ me stinky. Then they put me in my room n’ said ‘stay there until we say so!’ but they never saids so, so I stay in my room but got real hungry. So I left.” The Sandaime frowned, much more serious this time. He would have to tell one of his ANBU to deal with the orphanage caretakers. In a non-fatal way, of course.

Hiruzen nodded, slipping back into the role of the unconcerned and curious old man. “Hm. Well, good thing you’re not going back to them.”

“I’m not in trouble for runnin’ away?” Naruto looked up at him, surprised.

Hiruzen shook his head. “You’re not in trouble, Naruto. You did the right thing.”

A broad grin spread across the boy’s face. “Yes! I’m Naruto, and I’m always right! Believe it!”

The Sandaime smiled softly down at the talkative boy.  _ Just like his mother,  _ he silently acknowledged. While the kid looked like a near carbon copy of his father, he had the extravagant personality of Kushina. Hiruzen was silently grateful that such a spunky energy would stay in the Hidden Leaf. 

They finally arrived at the Hokage tower, and Hiruzen took Naruto to one of the desk-shinobi’s breakrooms, which had long since been cleared out, everyone gone home for the night. Hiruzen himself only hadn’t headed home because of the paperwork he had piled up -- countless mission reports and treaties to look over. 

“Ah, Naruto, you must be very tired. You should rest in here while I handle a few things,” The older man gestured to one of the loveseats in the breakroom, well broken-into from it’s years of use. Naruto nodded and headed over to it, wrapping his blanket around himself as he sat down. 

“Old man?” Hiruzen smiled. “What’s gonna happen?”

The boy didn’t have to clarify his sentence for him to understand. Naruto didn’t know what was going to happen to him. He couldn’t go back to the orphanage -- the Sandaime would not allow the son of the Fourth Hokage, or any child, to be treated so poorly. There were no civilians that Hiruzen trusted with Naruto, considering most of them thought he was a monster in disguise. Neither Kushina nor Minato had any living relatives in the village. 

But Hiruzen had already come to a conclusion, the second Naruto told him how they treated him in the orphanage. 

“Don’t worry, Naruto,” he said, smiling reassuringly. “Just rest, for now.” 

Hiruzen returned to his office, gesturing for the ANBU that had been following him to show themselves as he went.

“Boar, please summon Turtle and Hound to my office immediately. I have some important matters to discuss with them.” The attentive young ANBU nodded obediently and bolted out the door.

Hiruzen lit his pipe and took a puff, allowing himself one last moment of relaxation before he buried himself into finding all sorts of documents he would need to do what he was planning. He kept Naruto’s documents sealed away in a top-secret area that no regular shinobi was allowed to access, but he wouldn’t need those quite yet. He would first need to get his hands on residence forms, which, Hiruzen thought to himself, would be  _ much  _ easier to locate. 

He found them quickly enough, and was just returning to his desk as two masked shinobi came into his office through one of the open windows. Hiruzen sighed. 

“Have you two never heard of a door? It’s there for a reason.”

Turtle ducked her head in embarrassment that Hiruzen was 90% sure was just an act. Hound just politely walked in front of his desk, followed by his companion. 

“You summoned us, Lord Hokage,” Hound started, formal as ever.

“Yes. I wanted to talk to you both about Naruto.” Hound and Turtle didn’t noticeably stiffen, but Hiruzen could detect the slightest tightening in their chakra. The Sandaime concluded that they were either hiding something from him about the boy, or the topic of their sensei’s son was still a little touchy for them. He decided it was probably both.

“About an hour ago, Naruto ran away from the orphanage he was staying at. We found him and after I asked him why he ran away, he revealed that he has been neglected and abused for a couple months now.” Hiruzen noted that Turtle’s chakra stiffened even more, but Hound had kept his tightly clamped down.

“So, I decided that I will not be sending him back to the orphanage. And since he has no immediate family alive, and no civilians jumping to adopt him, he will be put into independent living.” Ah, there was Hound’s chakra, flaring out quickly before being drowned again. “I will pay his bills and give him money for food and other necessities until he graduates from the academy.” 

“I hope you don’t mind me asking, but why are we being informed of this, Lord Hokage?” Turtle spoke up nervously. 

Hiruzen sighed again. “I know I’m contradicting the rules I set up for you both after Naruto’s birth, but because of these unfortunate circumstances…” He shook his head and raised his pipe to his mouth again. “I’m moving the boy into a vacant apartment across the hall from yours. Your mission is to protect him and make sure he is happy and healthy. You may have contact with Naruto, but you are still forbidden from telling him about his heritage,” Hiruzen finished, blowing smoke rings into the air.

"Understood, Lord Hokage,” Hound started, “Are we to be relieved of our other ANBU duties until this mission is completed?” 

Hiruzen shook his head. “You are both much too talented to be relieved from missions for so long. You will be taken from the mission roster until Naruto starts at the academy in a few months. After that, you will no longer have any long-term missions until he graduates, but you will be put back on the roster.” 

Turtle nodded, her fists clenched tightly at her sides. “When will he move in?”

“I’m going to estimate around a week from now. I will send a mission scroll for you both in a few days. My sincerest apologies that I do not have it already prepared, but this just came up and I simply wanted to inform you both about the basic layout. I am not so impolite that I would move him in next door to you without letting you know.”

Hound and Turtle nodded in sync. Hiruzen dismissed them both, and they flew out the window (again). Hiruzen let his facade break and audibly groaned at the dick move he had just pulled. He’d kept those two away from the boy who was basically their  _ little brother  _ for so long, then suddenly assigned them to a mission where they nearly have to adopt him.  _ I’m an asshole,  _ Hiruzen thought as he buried his head in his hands. _. _

Thank the gods for Rin and Kakashi’s relentless loyalty. 

  
  


She ran as fast as she could on the rooftops, colors and buildings flying past her in a blur. Kakashi was behind her, silent in his own brewing emotions. Tears fell down her face from behind her mask, and she could feel the part in her hair getting messed up uncomfortably. 

She wasn’t sure where she was going, but before she knew it, she was crouched before the memorial stone, running her fingers over new and old names. Kakashi had stopped too, staring at the stone from a few feet away. She noticed his nearly-silent footsteps as he approached her, and his warm hand on her back as he sat next to her. She envied his calm composure.

“Why… he…” She started, her voice cracking and suddenly grateful for the mask that hid her shaking mouth.

Kakashi sighed. “I don’t know, Rin. I don’t know.”

She ran her fingers over a name again.  _ Uzumaki Kushina.  _

“But… but he told us we  _ couldn’t see him.  _ We weren’t allowed to,” Rin hiccuped and pulled her hand away from the stone, hugging herself miserably.

“Yeah,” Kakashi started, “It’s not fair. Minato-sensei did so much for us and we couldn’t even give his son a wonderful first few years of his life. Sensei was like a  _ father  _ to me. It’s fucked up. But we can  _ change  _ it, Rin.”

Rin nodded and tilted her mask up onto her forehead so she could wipe away the tears from her face. “He’s like me. He’s like me, but I’ve been pitied and he’s been  _ hated.  _ Why are they like that, Kakashi? He’s just a kid.”

“They don’t realize that Naruto is a hero,” Kakashi stated. “When they look at Naruto, they see the Nine-tails, the beast that destroyed their home.”

Rin drew her mask back over her face and sniffed once. She knew Kakashi was right but… “It’s so messed up.”

“I know.”

She rested her head on Kakashi’s shoulder, and he squeezed her around the waist comfortingly. They sat there for another few minutes before pulling themselves together. Kakashi stood first, holding a hand out for his teammate.

“Let’s go home, Rin.”

  
  



	2. they're trying to catch you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Naruto wasn’t sure how to react to the fact that he would be living alone in his own apartment. Most of his four-year-old brain was consumed with pride over the words the Hokage used. "Independent" and "responsible" flitted through Naruto’s mind, leaving a proud grin on his face. But the other side of him, the part that was afraid to be left alone, just wanted someone to hug him. He couldn’t remember ever being hugged.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me hating how this is turning out but forcing myself to write it anyway: 😋
> 
> here is chapter two, thank you to everyone who left kudos last chapter!! <3

Naruto wasn’t sure how to react to the fact that he would be living alone in his own apartment. Most of his four-year-old brain was consumed with pride over the words the Hokage used.  _ Independent  _ and  _ responsible  _ flitted through Naruto’s mind, leaving a proud grin on his face. But the other side of him, the part that was afraid to be left alone, just wanted someone to hug him. He couldn’t remember ever being hugged.

The Hokage had taken him shopping earlier that week in preparation to move into his new home. He gave Naruto actual _money,_ a few small bills and instructions to “get whatever you want” while the older man did the actual shopping. Naruto had found a small green frog wallet and immediately had fallen in _love._ He wasn’t sure what he would put in it, since he didn’t work or have any money, but it was just too cute to leave it by itself. The Hokage had raised his eyebrows a little and he looked kind of sad when Naruto showed it to him, though Naruto didn’t know why.

Later that week, Naruto was being escorted by two of the animal-shadow people and the Hokage to his new house. His heart was beating faster than ever, like a little motor in his chest. He wasn’t sure he could be alone yet.

The building itself was nice enough, near the outskirts of downtown Konoha, where there weren’t big crowds or bustling shops. It was made of red brick and  _ very  _ tall, at least to Naruto. Truly, it couldn’t have been more than five stories. It was flanked by two other buildings, though Naruto couldn’t guess what they were for. 

At the front of the building, there were a few stairs that led up to a small patio, and two black doors marked the entrance. It didn’t smell like the orphanage did, and the old woman knitting in the lobby looked at him with kind eyes. The Hokage had tapped Naruto on the shoulder then and quietly informed him that the old woman was his new landlady, and it would do him good to be kind to her. Naruto’s smile widened a little bit then as he nodded fervently. 

They walked up a few flights of stairs -- Naruto would have counted them if he could, but he at least knew that there were  _ certainly  _ more than the orphanage had -- before stopping. The hallway Naruto found himself in was quiet, the only sound being a vacuum cleaner coming from inside one of the rooms. 

The Hokage started walking, a masked shadow-man at his side, and beckoned Naruto to follow him. The hallway wasn’t all that long, with only a few apartment rooms on each side. They stopped at the very end of the hall, and the Hokage took a single key out of his pocket and inserted it into the door on his left. 

The inside of the apartment was bare. Naked of any furniture, wallpaper, everything. It was small, but bigger than Naruto had ever had to himself. He had his own room, like in the orphanage, but he also had his own bathroom, kitchen,  _ and  _ living room. He could feel his previous jitters dissipating as excitement settled in his chest.

“This is  _ all _ mine, old man?” Naruto exclaimed as he threw his new backpack (with only a fresh coloring book, crayons, and his wallet in it) onto the naked floor, ignoring the dust that poofed up around it.

The old man nodded as a couple shadow-people filtered in, putting all his new belongings where they should be. A stool for each room, as Naruto wasn’t yet tall enough to reach as high as the sink.

“This is all yours, Naruto," The Hokage started, a smile on his face. “But it’s a big job to take care of a home. You’re still young, so I’ll send by some of my ANBU friends every once and a while to help you keep things tidy.” 

Naruto nodded absently, not entirely sure what the old man was talking about. 

The masked ninjas filtered out not too long after that, while Naruto was looking out his window with a big grin on his face. The Hokage nodded his thanks as two went to resume their positions as his ever-present bodyguards.

Naruto turned back around to face the Hokage, who was lighting his pipe in the new home. Naruto huffed in frustration but decidedly ignored it, not wanting to lose his only friend so soon.

“Well,” The old man sighed. “Before I go, we need to set some rules.”

Naruto nodded.

“Your curfew is six o’clock, if you’re by yourself. You are  _ not _ to be running around Konoha without adult supervision past six o’clock until I tell you otherwise, understand?” Naruto nodded again, with much more passion this time, though he was curious as to  _ how  _ he was supposed to know when it was six o’clock. He couldn’t read time yet. 

The Hokage must have realized that, for he sighed and pointed to a newly-put-up clock on the wall next to Naruto’s head.

“When the little hand touches the bottom middle of the clock, you need to be  _ home. _ ” At Naruto’s squinty-eyed clueless look, the Hokage backtracked. “Forget about the clock. When it starts to get dark out, that’s when you come home, understand?”

Naruto nodded again, though with much more confidence.

“Now - if you’re out past sunset without an adult, I will know,” he threw a quick glance towards the masked man at his side, “So it’s better to just avoid that, hm?”

The Hokage nodded in satisfaction, a smile showing from behind the cloud of smoke he blew into the room. “That’s it from me. I will allow you to accommodate yourself now, ah?”

Naruto grinned and rushed forward to hug the older man, though he could only embrace his legs. He was very surprised by the young boy’s actions, if the way he stumbled was anything to go by. 

“Thank you old man!” The boy’s gratitude escaped him, and the Hokage patted his back reassuringly. 

Naruto detached himself and waved to the Hokage and the shadow-shinobi. “Bye, grandpa! Bye, Shadow-Ninja!” 

After he closed the door behind them, he went to grab the key that the Hokage left for Naruto. He gripped the tiny piece of metal in his fist and  _ squealed,  _ jumping up and down joyfully.

His  _ home. _

  
  


Kakashi returned from his mission on time that night. It had gone perfectly, his team had finished quickly and efficiently. He was tired, but uninjured. 

Rin was still on her mission near Suna, so it would just be Kakashi and the dogs for another day or so. 

He opened the window to his fourth-story apartment, sliding in with a gracefulness backed up by lots of experience with the action. 

Naruto would be moving in next door soon, if he hadn’t already. Kakashi was too exhausted to stretch his senses out to see if the boy was nearby. Besides, it wouldn’t do him any good except give him the jitters, considering he had to wait to see him. Rin had threatened homicide if he met Naruto without her. 

He flopped down onto the couch, taking off his dog mask as he went. He had guard duty tomorrow, something small before taking over his role as one of Naruto’s guardians. Not exciting, but promising for a death-free day, which was refreshing. 

He kept the exasperation of having guard duty early in the morning as a dam in his mind, holding back the flood that was the anxiousness and excitement of finally being allowed to care for his sensei’s son. It didn’t seem to be a very strong dam however, as in the process of a few minutes his mind was focused on the blue-eyed jinchuuriki again.

Thoughts and hopes for Naruto’s arrival raced through his mind until he fell into an uneasy sleep. 

  
  


Rin did not pride herself on being an excellent medic-nin. Sure, she was efficient, she’s saved the lives of her teammates more times than she can count. But she wasn’t the medic-nin she had dreamed of being when she was an eleven-year-old genin with a big imagination.

She partly blamed Isobu for her failure to be as notorious and wonderful as Senju Tsunade, as, with the power of a jinchuuriki, she had become more necessary, and useful, as a fighter. 

But it wasn’t Isobu’s fault. He didn’t want to be trapped in her as much as she didn’t want him sealed up inside her. She didn’t  _ hate  _ the three-tailed beast, and he didn’t hate her. They just didn’t enjoy the consequences that came with being stuck with each other for the rest of Rin’s life. 

Regardless -- whoever’s fault it was that Rin didn’t become a better medic-nin, she sure was blaming them now. 

Her hands were placed firmly on her teammate’s bloody chest, healing chakra making them glow a light green. He wheezed from below her, his breaths wet with blood. The wound had been given to him by an enemy’s large sword shoving in and through his chest, and Rin was pretty sure he had hit a few arteries on the way through. She was honestly surprised he had survived this long.

Her injured teammate… Rin wished she could put a name to the face aside from  _ Crow,  _ his ANBU-given name. Then again, she didn’t think she could handle another tally mark next to the column “lost friends” in her mind. 

She shifted her knees, trying to ignore the aching in them from kneeling for so long. Blood seeped through her pant legs. She tried to ignore that, too. She had stopped the bleeding a few minutes ago, but that had been after Crow had bled a significant amount, and a large red puddle stretched out from under his body. 

“You’ll be fine,” she muttered from behind her ceramic mask, sweat dripping down her face.

Crow coughed again, but it sounded a little more watery, a little more bloody.

Rin tried to calm the erratic beating of her heart, the shaking of her limbs as she ran lower and lower on chakra, the ever-faint fading of green chakra.

_ Isobu, help,  _ she called out to her bijuu internally, watching as the wound stopped healing.

_ Oh, what is it this time?  _ He responded, sounding a little smug.

_ Please, Isobu, he might die. _

_ Well… you’ll never stop whining about it if I don’t. _

Rin sighed in relief at the small boost of chakra Isobu gave her.  _ Just a little more,  _ she mused,  _ if I can close it up just a little more, he’ll live. _

It took a lot of sweat on her part, and a lot of blood on Crow’s, but finally, the wound was healed enough to stitch up without any fatal outcomes. 

_ Thank you. _

She sat Crow up enough so that she could wrap some bandages around his chest. Her hands sticky with blood, and her vision a little darker at the corners than normal.

“Well,” Crow started, voice scratchy and rough from his coughing, “I suppose that just signed my resignation forms, eh?”

Rin chuckled a little in response, looking her comrade in the eyes as she fastened the bandages. “I’m glad you pulled through. Thought you wouldn’t, for a second.”

Crow scoffed. “Yeah, me too. That’s gotta take the top three for worst injuries I’ve got.” 

“Top three? Did someone rip your intestines out or something?” 

He grinned in response, bracing his hand against the wall behind him and attempting to stand up. Rin dipped under his arm without hesitation, helping him walk. 

As they jumped from tree to tree, leaving the corpses of missing-nin behind them as they went, Rin remembered. 

_ Naruto. _

With a new goal pushing her along, Rin smiled behind her mask and brought up her speed, taking on a bit more of Crow’s weight.

“Damn, okay!” Crow huffed at their new pace from beside her, chuckling. “Konoha, here we come!”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> of COURSE hiruzen absolutely is not stupid enough to trust a 4 year old on his own. this is why he planted him right next to rin and kakashi, in addition to the ANBU watching over him.
> 
> also, crow isn't super significant i just wanted to give some background as to why rin isn't like.. working in a hospital. then i got carried away. and crow might show up again... in the form of our beloved shisui.. im getting ahead of myself 🤤
> 
> thank you for reading!


	3. running is a victory

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Ready?” Kakashi murmurs.  
> Rin nods lightly, a smile hidden behind her turtle-mask. “I can’t wait.”  
> “Me neither. I can’t wait to babysit for the rest of my career. Sounds fun,” he responds, all sarcasm.  
> She swatted at his arm, standing from her crouched position on the branch. “I hope he’s like her.”  
> The unspoken name passed between them silently. Kushina.  
> “Maa, he’s four. If he acts like every other four year old I’ve met, he’ll be a carbon copy of her.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tee hee i kinda whipped this one out fast so zont get used to dat...  
> anyway i wrote most of this at like 2 am on several different nights??? so if it doesnt make sense just pray for me

Rin dropped Crow off at the hospital as soon as she got back to Konoha, then went out in search of her teammate. 

He was most likely still in the village, considering Naruto had already or was about to move in by now, yet she doubted that the Hokage had given him a day off. So, that left guard duty. Now it was up to her to find out where he was stationed.

After less than twenty minutes of searching, Rin found Kakashi by one of the gates, scouting the perimeter. In Rin’s personal opinion, guard duties (especially like the one Kakashi is on) are  _ ridiculous  _ to assign to ANBU members. They’re much better suited for assination, she notes as she watches Kakashi fidget ever so slightly, his fingers twitching by his sides. 

She observes her friend from the shadows until another ANBU comes to switch out with him. Hound exchanges a few words with his replacement, then disappears. Rin doesn’t flinch as she feels his presence settle behind her.

“Ready?” Kakashi murmurs.

Rin nods lightly, a smile hidden behind her turtle-mask. “I can’t wait.”

“Me neither. I can’t wait to babysit for the rest of my career. Sounds fun,” he responds, all sarcasm.

She swatted at his arm, standing from her crouched position on the branch. “I hope he’s like her.”

The unspoken name passed between them silently.  _ Kushina. _

“Maa, he’s four. If he acts like every other four year old I’ve met, he’ll be a carbon copy of her.”

Rin scoffs but shakes her head in amusement, leaving Kakashi behind as she bounds across the rooftops of Konoha.

_ Knock. _

Naruto sucked in a short breath, halting his play and putting down his toys.

_ Knock. _

He didn’t know what to do if someone knocked on the door. The ladies at the orphanage used to tell the other kids not to talk to strangers, that they could hurt you. His tiny heart pounds in his chest.

“Hello?” A woman’s voice calls out from behind his door, sugar-sweet and soft. Naruto stands up.

“We’re your neighbors, and we were just stopping by to meet you!” She continues as Naruto creeps towards the door cautiously.

He takes a deep breath, reaching up to turn the lock to his door. There was a little chain he had to undo too, just above the doorknob. He drags the heavy door open an inch and glares at the strangers standing outside.

One of them - the woman - is small with short brown hair. She’s pretty with purple tattoos on her cheeks. The other one is a tall man with a covered-up face and grey hair, so Naruto assumes he must be the woman’s grandfather. He doesn’t recognize them, but they look at him kind of like Hokage does, and not at all like the angry villagers who tried to throw things at him.

And they have  _ hitai-ate. _

Naruto’s grin stretches wide and he points at the couple.  _ “YOU’RE NINJA!” _

The woman laughs, smiling kindly. The man nods. “That we are,” he says.

“What’s your name?” The lady asks, her tattoos bunching up when she smiles.

“My name is Naruto! I’m going to be a ninja too!” He pumps his fist into the air, “I’m gonna be  _ Hokage!” _

The woman chuckles and the man gets onto one knee, his single eye meeting Naruto’s. 

“I think that’s a  _ very  _ good goal, Naruto.” His mask crinkles a bit around where his mouth should be and his eye becomes a crescent-moon. Naruto beams back. 

“We live right across from you,” the kunoichi speaks up, pointing to the door a few feet behind her. “So come by if you need anything, ‘kay? My name’s Rin.”

The man kneeling in front of him nods. “I’m Kakashi.” He ruffles Naruto’s hair once more before standing up, his height leaving a shadow over the boy.

“So… you’re both… not mad at me?” His voice wavers though he tries to sound strong, and he berates himself internally for it.

“Mad?” Rin asks. “Why would we be mad?”

“Um… I dunno… everyone else is always mad at me…” Why aren’t they upset with him? Weren’t adults supposed to be frustrated with him, no matter what he did? Hokage-jiji was the only one who hadn’t been. 

Kakashi raises his uncovered eyebrow. “Did you do something wrong?”

Naruto hesitates for a moment, trying to recall a time when he might have misbehaved, but finding nothing, shakes his head at the man.

“Then we have no reason to be mad at you.”

His mouth starts to hurt with how much he’s smiling, and each time he tries to tame the wild grin on his face, it just quivers and grows stronger. 

He had  _ friends. _

  
  


**3 months**

Naruto looked at his reflection in the dusty mirror that hung off his wall. He wore a new vibrant-orange jumpsuit that he’d bought in his most recent shopping trip with Hokage-jiji, that he’d  _ insisted  _ on buying, even while the old man shook his head and tried to protest. The jacket hung around his waist, it was a bit too hot outside to wear it. He’d also gotten a new pair of shoes, orange-and-white sneakers with blue laces. 

He looked  _ cool. _

Yes, he looked cool and absolutely ready for his first day of school. There was no way that the other kids could make fun of him now! He beamed ear-to-ear and bounced on his toes, excitement spiking through his core.

_ Ninja school! _

He ran out of his door, slamming it closed behind him and shoving his key into the lock, twisting it around for a few minutes before finally getting it right.

Turning around and striding across the hall, Naruto banged on the other door obnoxiously. 

_ “Rin-nee-san! Kaka-nii-san!”  _ He hollered, pounding on the door. 

It was Kakashi who finally opened up the door, a cup of coffee in hand. “ _ What,  _ Naruto?”

The boy in question bounced up and down, giggling. “Today’s my first day of the academy!”

Rin rounded the corner then, looking noticeably more put-together than Kakashi. “Really? How about we walk you?”

Naruto nodded and tugged on Kakashi’s sleeve. The man sighed. “Alright, let me go get my shoes and headband.” 

The boy entered their apartment, leaning on the wall as he waited impatiently. Rin was doing something in the kitchen, then called out for him. He wandered into the room and looked at her curiously.

“Do you have a lunch packed?” 

Naruto nods and reaches into his big pockets, pulling out a little cup of instant ramen.

When Rin notices it, she groans and shakes her head. “Naruto, you can’t eat ramen  _ every day _ ! You’ll get sick! Here, I’ll pack you something.”

Naruto whines as Rin wrestles the ramen package away from him, placing it on the counter and out of his reach. She turns around and starts putting things into a little brown bag, then rolls the top closed and hands it to the boy.

“Apple, leftover rice, and a hard boiled egg.”

He pokes a finger into his mouth in a gagging motion and Rin rolls her eyes, amused. 

Kakashi steps out then, spinning a ring of keys around his finger. “Let’s go?”

Naruto nods and grabs at the hand that isn’t spinning keys, tugging him along.

“I’m so excited,” the boy starts as they step out into the sunlight of a nice Konoha morning. “I’m gonna make so many friends and everyone is going to think I’m super cool because my nee-san and nii-san are  _ ninja,  _ and my clothes are super cool and not boring at all!”

“Well you better tell us all about it, ‘kay?” Rin speaks up from beside him.

“Mmhm, and if anyone is mean to you, we’ll kill them.” Kakashi says, pocketing the keys. 

Rin swats at her friend, shaking her head behind Naruto’s back. “Ignore ‘Kashi, Naruto. We won’t kill them,” Naruto makes a loud  _ aww  _ sound, which she pointedly ignores. “We’ll just talk to them. Maybe tell their parents.”

“No!” Naruto exclaims. “That makes me seem like a baby! Killing them would be much cooler!”

The arch of the academy came into view and Naruto gasped, pulling his nii-san in excitement. He almost couldn’t contain himself, just barely holding back the squeals of joy that clawed at his throat. 

The other parents dropping their kids off gave Naruto dirty looks as he ran up to the entrance, but the second they noticed Sharingan no Kakashi and the Sanbi jinchuuriki trailing him, they averted their gazes in fear. At least, a few of them did - those who were civilians or low-class shinobi who filed papers all day.

Naruto hugged his neighbors around their legs briefly then hurried off, running into the yard with all the other kids. 

  
  


“Never took you two for the domestic type,” Shikaku teased.

_ And, there it was. _

“Wow, is there some clan-head meeting at the academy or are there just  _ that  _ many heirs in this class?” Rin giggled, stepping up next to Kakashi.

“There’s just that many,” Chozo said, sounding amazed himself.

Inoichi shook his head. “I pity the poor bastard that has to teach them.”

Kakashi chuckled at that, crossing his arms over his chest. “Bet they’re going to be filing for an appointment with you in a month, tops.”

Damn, there really  _ were  _ a lot of clan heads here. Hyuuga, Uchiha, Yamanaka, Nara, Akimichi, Aburame, Inuzuka…  _ holy shit. _

“So, Hatake, Nohara,” Shibi Aburame spoke up, startling Tsume, who apparently hadn’t even noticed his presence up until now. “What brings you here?”

“Maa, Naruto moved in next to us a few months ago,” Kakashi caught Shikaku’s calculating gaze at his claim.

“He comes over a lot for dinner,” Rin took over, smiling. “He can’t cook much else other than ramen. He’s a sweet kid, really.”

Hiashi narrowed his unnerving eyes, looking Kakashi and Rin up and down. He hummed once, contemplatively, then looked away. Kakashi could only guess what he was thinking. The Hyuuga clan head was most likely speculating that they were trying to use Naruto’s power to their advantage, some way or another, but looked to have dismissed it. 

The matter didn’t need any further explaining for anyone else, as they all had most likely connected it to Rin’s own jinchuuriki status.

“Looks like you’ve got a pup, eh, Kakashi?” Tsume sniggered, a sharp smirk on her face. 

Kakashi hummed, not truly responding, and looked out at the children in the yard. He searched for Naruto, and felt relieved when he saw that the boy was with two others, who looked to be Shikamaru Nara and Kiba Inuzuka.  _ Good choice. _

He turned his head when he heard the soft voice of Mikoto Uchiha, who had been quiet so far. 

“Well, I’m going to head back. Itachi is getting back from his mission today.”

Everyone else parted after that, Tsume landing a supportive pat on Kakashi’s back before heading off herself. Rin took one last glance at the academy, and Naruto, who was running inside with his peers, and smiled. 

“Look at us, ‘Kashi!” she exclaimed. “We are  _ parents.” _

Kakashi struck her with a dry look. “We are nineteen and struggling financially. We need a mission.”

Rin glared at him, an eyebrow cocked and a dangerous twist to her mouth.

“But sure, I suppose we’re parents.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YES this is going to be featuring some pack!kakashi bc i stan those headcanons… 
> 
> team 7 will probs come in a few chapters. we’ll see lol
> 
> just some clarification - rin and kakashi are not together in this fic! i'm aiming for them to have a best-friend sort of relationship so there's not gonna be any romancey stuff 😔 i am sorry if that was what ur looking for LMAO
> 
> anyway thank u for reading again!!!


	4. beauty lays behind the hills

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Naruto rounded a corner, just a couple of blocks away from his apartment. He slowed down, a little out of breath. The lights on this street were a bit dimmer, and there were more people out. Naruto caught the eye of one cruel-looking villager, looked at the ground, and continued walking, a bit faster.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this one's short, only 1k words so im sorry!! i think next chapter will be decently sized. i honestly just didn't know what else to add to this chapter
> 
> tw - child abuse

The sun was setting, a soft glow from the orange horizon shining onto the street. Lanterns on restaurants and bars had turned on, and most civilians were calling it a day, heading home for the night. 

Naruto ran through the streets, giggling as the breeze ran through his hair, making it even more wild than it had been before. It was getting dark out, and the Hokage had told him that he shouldn’t be outside at nighttime, but Naruto really had been given no say in the matter tonight.

Well, that wasn’t completely true. It  _ was  _ Naruto himself who decided to balance a bucket of water on the door and prank Mizuki-sensei. But he hadn’t expected that he would be held in detention for  _ three hours.  _

It was Mizuki-sensei’s fault for falling for his trap, though. If he had actually been a somewhat-decent ninja, maybe he would have noticed how the door was open when it had been closed when he left. Too late now.

Naruto rounded a corner, just a couple of blocks away from his apartment. He slowed down, a little out of breath. The lights on this street were a bit dimmer, and there were more people out. Naruto caught the eye of one cruel-looking villager, looked at the ground, and continued walking, a bit faster. 

_ “Hey!”  _ Someone shouted behind him. He picked up his pace again.

“Hey, demon brat! Don’t ignore me!” Naruto stopped in his tracks at the nickname, turning around to face the man calling him. 

He was big and tall, not as large as Choji’s dad but definitely  _ big.  _ There was that cruel-looking villager behind him, cowering in fear. The big man gestured at Naruto with a bottle, stumbling up to the boy. 

“You’re an ugly thing, ya know that?” He prodded at Naruto’s head with the bottle, cornering him against a shop wall. Naruto’s eyes filled with tears and his lip wobbled a little, but he had to stay strong. He  _ had  _ to, even if he was frozen in fear and the man wouldn’t stop tapping the bottle against his head.

“What?” The man sneered, “not gonna say anything?” He thudded the bottle against Naruto’s head again, harder this time. 

He grunted. “Dumb fox.” Another hard thunk against his head. Naruto raised his hands to defend himself from the hard blows, but the man just grabbed his arms and started hitting him again. Naruto started sobbing, yelling at the man to stop as tears rolled down his face. 

The big man raised the bottle above his head, as if winding up for a large blow. Naruto squeezed his eyes closed in preparation for the hit, just wanting to go home.

The blow never hit.

Kakashi would have recognized that cry from the furthest depths of Kumogakure. 

Before he had even considered it, he was running across rooftops, abandoning his position. His sensitive hearing had picked up the sob, coming from a street not too far away from his apartment. 

True to his senses, Naruto was there, cowering under the looming figures of two drunken men. Kakashi jumped in front of his boy, watching surprise flicker across the attacker’s face as his blow didn’t hit the intended target, instead pushing against Kakashi’s raised arms.

He leaned towards the man, sneering underneath his masks and twisting his arm to grab the empty beer bottle. He smashed it between his fingers, staring the drunk in the eye as he yelled out at Kakashi. The slimmer man behind him stumbled backwards, running away in fear. A coward, leaving his friend for the wolves (or just  _ wolf).  _

Naruto was still crying behind him as Kakashi straightened the man’s arm out and jerked his knee up, slamming it into the mans’ elbow. A loud snapping sound rang out in the otherwise quiet streets, accompanied by a scream.  _ That should be enough,  _ Kakashi concluded, pushing the screaming civilian onto his back effortlessly.

Kakashi turned to pick Naruto up, flying across rooftops with the boy clutched in his arms. He was still crying, probably believing he was in the hold of a stranger who intended to hurt him. 

He didn’t even bother with his door, just sliding through the window to his apartment (after bypassing the seals with a simple flare of his chakra). He set Naruto down on the couch, removing his ANBU mask and fussing over the boy. He briefly noted the fact that he was most  _ definitely  _ supposed to be on duty right now, but family had always come first for Kakashi. Especially now that he had so little of it left.

Fortunately, his experience with being on a team with a medic-nin for about ten years helped him in his investigation of Naruto’s injuries. He quickly came to the conclusion that the men hadn’t done any physical damage, but were on their way to. If Kakashi had been any slower…

“Are you alright, Naruto?” Kakashi ran a hand through the boy’s hair, kneeling in front of him.

He nodded and swung his legs. “Please don’t tell Gran’pa, nii-san,” he whispered.

“Hm? The Hokage? Why not?”

“‘Cause he told me not to be out late. N’ I was.” His little whispers were so uncharacteristic of him, and it made Kakashi frown. The blond six-year-old wasn’t often quiet, and more frequently could be found screaming in the streets than swallowing before speaking.

“And why were you out late?” 

“Mizuki-sensei… I pranked him… he was real mad, nii-san, and made me stay after school.” Kakashi nodded in understanding. Mizuki was a cruel one, that was no doubt.

“Hey, I’ll make you a deal,” Kakashi proposed, “if I don’t tell the Hokage, you need to promise me that you’ll let me or Rin pick you up from school every day. Sound good?” 

Naruto raised his head, that old spark back in his eyes and a grin on his face as he nodded passionately, sticking out a hand for Kakashi to shake. The older man smiled beneath his mask and took the tiny hand in his own, shaking it lightly. 

“Now,” Kakashi pondered, finger tapping his chin dramatically. “I think when Rin gets home, I go pick up some food and you can spend the night, hmm?”

“Yes!” Naruto exclaimed, shooting up from his spot on the couch and bouncing around the room as Kakashi chuckled to himself.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OK - quick idea of what's going to happen with this story
> 
> im planning on making this part of a series. this story is going to be about naruto, rin, and kakashi. the next one will be focused on team seven along with their sensei(s), and the chuunin exams. but for now im just focusing on this.
> 
> im sorry about the abrupt change for anyone that was looking forward to team 7. this fic is going to wrap up when naruto turns 12/has his graduation exam, and the next part in the series will be about team 7 (bc u know i love my girl sakura 😌). 
> 
> now that i finally have an idea on what im doing, chapters will hopefully churn out faster!! i've already started chapter 5 (lots of rin & naruto jinchuuriki bonding!) 
> 
> thank you so much for reading yet again <3


	5. the sun will be guiding you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Naruto starts to struggle in the academy, and an important conversation about his... little friend... is had.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ayyyy 69 kudos wassup  
> this took me a lil long to finish but i made it a little longer... for u 🤲

Naruto wasn’t waiting for her at the academy entrance when Rin went to pick him up. Kakashi was out on some quick assassination mission, and he probably wouldn’t be back for a few more days, so he couldn’t have picked the boy up. Either he had gone home with a friend without telling her (unlikely), or was being held after school by Iruka for causing trouble (likely). 

She walked through the academy walls silently, something she was all-too familiar with in her year of picking the detention-prone boy up nearly every day. The pathway to Iruka’s classroom was basically ingrained in her brain.

Rin rapped on the door twice, and was raising her fist for a third time when someone opened the classroom door. Iruka was standing there, a pleasant smile on his face. Too pleasant to mean Naruto had misbehaved yet again. 

“Hello, Rin. Come on in, Naruto and I were just having a chat,” he held out his hand politely, welcoming her in. Naruto sat at one of the desks, swinging his feet and wringing his hands. 

“Hi, Iruka-sensei,” she greeted warmly as she took a spot at the desk next to Naruto. “Is there a reason Naruto’s being held after school?”

Iruka nodded, sitting at his own desk. “Don’t worry, he’s not in trouble. I’ve just noticed that Naruto’s been struggling with some of the ninjutsu we’ve been practicing. Most of the kids are, this is very new for them and they’re still learning it. It just seems like Naruto, specifically, has been having a hard time focusing the proper amount of chakra into his clones.”

Rin felt a twisting in her stomach. She’d been expecting this. “Oh. How so?”

“He’s putting too much, his clones aren’t functional at all.”

“Yes, that’s understandable. He does have,” she shot a knowing glance at the younger teacher, “ _ large  _ chakra reserves.”

Iruka hummed and nodded curtly. “That’s all I have for you. He’s still had poorer grades when it comes to written assignments, but his taijutsu is getting very good.”

Naruto blushed a little at the praise, folding his hands behind his head and swinging his legs. 

“Thank you, Iruka-sensei. I’ll make sure to help him with his chakra, but he’s a quick learner,” Rin stood up, ruffling the boys’ hair as he got up as well.

Iruka smiled and showed them out, giving Rin a grateful tilt of his head as she thanked him. 

-

“Okay, Naruto. I want you to imagine that your chakra is a big swimming pool. Got that?”

The boy nodded, looking determined, and closed his eyes in concentration. 

“Now, instead of pulling at it at random like you learned in class, imagine that you’re taking a small handful from that pool.” Rin focused in on her chakra as well, envisioning large pools.

He donned a very focused look, scrunching up his face and squatting, hands clasped together. After looking like he was on the verge of combustion for a few minutes, he groaned loudly and clawed at his hair dramatically.

“ _ Rin-nee, _ ” he whined, pouting, “it’s not working! I’m just not good at this clone stuff! Can’t I learn something  _ cool?”  _

“Naruto, if you don’t have the patience to learn a simple clone jutsu, there’s no  _ way  _ you’ll be able to do more advanced stuff. Come here.” She beckoned the boy over to her, taking a seat on the overgrown grass of the training grounds. The seven-year-old frowned and walked over to her, plopping down onto his knees. 

“You know, Naruto, my chakra is just like yours.” Rin started, smiling kindly.

“Really?” He beamed, slapping a hand to his chest, “That means I  _ have  _ to be a super awesome ninja when I’m big, just like you!”

Rin blushed at the praise. “Yes. We both have naturally big chakra reserves, and even  _ bigger _ …” she trailed off, trying to find an appropriate word to call their tailed-beast’s chakra. That would have to wait until Kakashi got back, at least. “Backup reserves!”

Naruto looked absolutely  _ awed.  _ His eyes lit up and he shuffled closer, a big grin on his face.

“But, because we have so much chakra, that means that we have to be especially good at controlling it. It also makes it a lot harder to control it, so that’s why it’s taking you longer than your classmates.”

Naruto scrunched his eyebrows together and pursed his lips, looking confused. “How do I control it  _ faster _ .”

Rin rolled her eyes fondly at Naruto’s seven-year-old grammar, the brief image of a boy with orange goggles flashing through her mind.  _ Not now. _

“You just need to practice,” she watched as he adopted a disappointed look. “I can teach you some ways to practice, if you’d like.”

He immediately jumped up, and threw his hands in the air with excitement. “ _ Yes!  _ Like what, nee-san? Will it help me defeat bad guys?” 

“I suppose it can,” Rin giggled. She led him over to a river a few yards away. When they arrived, she stepped out onto the water and stood upon it perfectly, just as she had on land. Naruto gasped, ever the drama queen, and simply  _ erupted. _

“How did you do that! That’s super, super cool! Nee-san, teach me, teach me,  _ please!”  _

Rin smiled softly at him. “Well, all you really do is step onto the water, but-”

Before she could finish, Naruto had plunged into the water.

“Naruto!” She exclaimed in exasperation, lifting the boy up from one of his doggy-paddling arms. She dragged him on land and sat him on the grass, still spluttering from his dunk.

“You should let me finish next time, Naruto.” She admonished him.

He pouted, crossing his arms and legs and looking away. 

“Anyway, as I was saying, before you step onto the water you need to focus chakra into your feet. Not too much, not too little, but just enough, will give you the ability to stand on the water,” she smirked again, “so I suppose you were probably going to get wet anyway.”

“Have at it then.” She pointed to the river, ruffling the boy’s hair.

Naruto nodded in determination and stood up. “Yeah, this is going to be super easy!” At the bank, he closed his eyes and focused his chakra, measuring the amount he should use.

Then he took a great step onto the river, and fell face-first in, again. He paddled to shore, pulling himself out of the water and trying to shed the disappointment on his face.

Rin sighed behind him. “Naruto, this exercise is bound to have fails. It has to, that way you can get a good grip on how much chakra you need. Don’t be too upset if you fall.”

He took off his jacket and shoes, feeling significantly lighter afterwards. Rin stood up and strode towards him, a soft look in her eyes. 

“Here, I’ll hold your hand so you don’t fall too far, okay?”

He nodded, taking Rin’s hand in his own. After giving Naruto a few minutes to gather his chakra, they stepped onto the water together. Naruto stayed up for a few moments before realizing that he had succeeded. The second the thrill hit him he was dangling in the water from Rin’s hand as she hoisted him onto her hip. His fall didn’t seem to mute his victory, however.

_ “Wooo!”  _ Naruto cheered, throwing his hands up as Rin walked him onto shore. “I did it! I did it, I did it!”

“Yes, good job Naruto!” Rin joined in, smiling wide. “You’ll still need some more practice so you can stay up longer, but you did a very good job considering it was only your second time.”

He nodded, grinning. “Let’s go get some lunch, hm?”

Kakashi returned two days later, a couple hours after Rin had tucked Naruto in for the night. She was in their apartment, flipping through a book and sipping her tea, settled down for the night. 

He slipped in through the window next to her, peeling off his ANBU vest as he went. It was splattered with blood, and he saw Rin wince out of the corner of his eye. 

“Bad one?” She asked through a slight grimace.

Kakashi shook his head. “No, just messy. How were things here?”

“Good, they were, ah…” She paused, putting her book away, and Kakashi went on full alert again. “Iruka told me Naruto’s been struggling in school more than usual.”

Kakashi tilted his head in confusion, it didn’t seem like too big of a deal. Just a few more one on one lessons.

“With his  _ chakra  _ control,” Rin finished, meeting Kakashi’s eyes.

_ Uh oh.  _ “What’d you tell him?”

“That he had backup reserves.”

“Do you think we need to tell him?” 

“I think it’d be smart to.”

Damn, he didn’t want to do that. It’d have to be approved by the Hokage first, of course, but considering Rin’s jinchuuriki status, he’d probably oblige. An emotional conversation that Kakashi did _not_ want to have. Naruto would be confused, then upset, then angry and it would be a whole roller coaster of feelings that he did _not_ want to be a part of.

“So, I’m gonna go to Lord Third in the morning and talk to him about it. If he gives us the go, we’ll have a conversation with Naruto over dinner tomorrow night. Alright?”

Kakashi nodded, resisting the urge to groan obnoxiously. 

“Anyway, you need to get a shower  _ asap.  _ You smell like blood.” She stood up and headed towards the kitchen with her tea.

“Thanks, Rin, I hadn’t noticed!”

After a very boring political conversation with the Hokage, Rin and Kakashi headed to retrieve Naruto. They’d arrived at the Hokage Tower around ten in the morning. It’d taken just over an hour to gain Hiruzen’s approval, but then he’d called in Homura and Koharu to gain  _ their  _ approval, and by the time they’d been released with permission to tell Naruto about his little buddy it was well past noon. 

They’d agreed that it was probably best to have this conversation in the privacy of Kakashi and Rin’s apartment, so the duo agreed to pick up something for lunch. Rin was gritting her teeth so hard it was almost audible, tugging on the hem of her shirt every few seconds. 

Naruto hadn’t gone out (per Kakashi and Rin’s request), and was sitting on the floor of his room working on some assignment or another when they came in. Kakashi called Naruto over to their apartment, and the boy immediately abandoned his homework to scamper after his neighbors.

Rin was too busy destroying the inside of her mouth from nerves to pay any mind to the talkative boy beside her. He was asking about what they were having for lunch, and Kakashi patiently answered his questions as they all sat down to eat. 

“Naruto,” Kakashi began, swatting at Rin’s arm lightly to snap her out of her daze. “We have something important to talk to you about.”

“Mmph?” Naruto mumbled through a mouthful of ramen. Rin let out a breath she hadn’t known she was holding.

“Remember the other day when I told you that you just had backup chakra reserves at training? And those reserves are the reason why it’s so hard for you to control your chakra?” Rin ignored her food, twisting the fabric of her sleeves under the table.

“Mmhmm.”

“Well, the reason you have those reserves…” She took a deep breath. “That chakra belongs to something sealed inside you, Naruto.”

“Have you learned about the Nine-tails’ attack on Konoha?” Kakashi spoke up beside her, taking some of the burden. Rin nearly sighed in relief.

“A little,” Naruto said, finally having swallowed his food when he realized the conversation was serious.

“Do you at least know what the Nine-tails is?” Naruto shook his head.

“I know it was a big monster but that’s it.”

“Okay.” Kakashi grimaced a little under his mask, a motion that Rin only noticed through her years of experience working with him. 

“The Nine-tails is one of the Tailed Beasts, which are, for lack of better term, chakra monsters.” Kakashi paused. After Naruto’s nod of comprehension, he continued. “When a Tailed Beast is loose, the best way to control and maintain it in a way that will benefit the village is by sealing it into a vessel of sorts. We call these vessels  _ jinchuuriki.  _ Jinchuuriki are not a human embodiment of the Tailed Beast. They’re actual people, who just hold a beast inside of them to protect their village.” He trailed off, scratching the back of his neck in discomfort. 

Rin took that as her queue to take over. “Before the Nine-tails’ attack, it was sealed inside of a Leaf shinobi,” Rin hesitated, deciding whether or not she should tell Naruto about his mother.  _ No, too much for one day,  _ she concluded. “However, it… escaped, so we had to seal it inside of someone new.”

Both her and Kakashi waited for it to click in Naruto’s mind. “Okay?” the boy tilted his head in confusion, eyeing them. Kakashi sighed.

“Naruto,” he started. “The Nine-tails was sealed inside of you.”

Naruto grew very pale very quickly, eyes widening with each second. 

“Does that mean I killed all those people?” He looked on the verge of tears now, and Rin’s heart went out to the boy. 

“No, baby,” She said gently. “The Nine-tails did. You’re just like the cop watching it’s cell.  _ You  _ stopped the Nine-tails. You’re the hero.”

Naruto was crying now, fat tears rolling down his face as his chin quivered. “Then why does everybody treat me so bad?”

“Because they’re stupid and scared.” Kakashi stated confidently.

Rin nodded in agreement. “I understand how you feel, Naruto. You know, I’m a jinchuuriki too.”

If possible, Naruto’s eyes widened even more, his eyebrows shooting to his forehead. “Are you really, nee-san?”

Rin nodded, smiling. “My Tailed Beast is the Three-tails. His name is Isobu.”

Naruto started crying more, wiping at his face in a hurry. Rin crossed to the other side of the table and wrapped Naruto in a tight hug. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Kakashi stand and gather their nearly-untouched food, giving Rin and Naruto a moment of privacy. 

“I’m sorry they treat you so badly, Naruto.” 

He hiccupped and she rocked him gently. “B-but why?”

“I don’t know.” She whispered to him, pressing her face into his hair. “But I do know that you’re going to become an excellent shinobi and you’re going to prove them  _ all  _ wrong.”

_ Just like your mother. _

Kakashi walked back in then, concern in his eyes as he looked over Naruto. It was hard to see the resemblance between this Kakashi and the Kakashi she knew when they were twelve. Rin found herself more and more grateful for the change each day.

He leaned forward and ruffled the boy’s hair. “Hm. He’ll be a good shinobi if he shapes up those paper test scores sometime soon.”

That’s when Rin realized, cradling her sensei’s crying son and glaring at her chuckling best friend, that things were alright. They all might have been marred by loss and trauma, and the constant stress of everyday life, but together they found a way to turn it into something pure. Something like a  _ family.  _

They would be okay. Kakashi was healing, since Naruto had come along. And when Rin gave herself a moment to think, she realized she was too. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THANK u for reading i have NO CLUE when im gonna finish the next chapter so we will see <3 the world may never know


	6. they're dying to stop you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He could smell it the second they got within ten meters of the area. Blood. So much of it that it was all Kakashi could smell, overwhelming even the scent of Rin’s perfumey coconut shampoo that usually clouded his senses.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i am. so sorry this took me a lot longer than usual LMAO but what can i say i have no set plot and i am coming up with it as i write 💅 call me an artist
> 
> anyway this chapter's the uchiha massacre so its .... yk. it's a little gory and does mention child death a couple of times. be safe ❤️

The alarm went off at 0136 in the morning.

Kakashi shot up in his bed, already on alert, and started changing into his uniform before he could clear the sleep out of his eye. Within thirty seconds he was jumping out the window with a silent Rin on his tail. They ran side by side, looking for whatever had been awful enough to sound the alarms, before they caught up with another ANBU.

Kakashi straightened, assuming his role as a captain. “What’s going on?”

Panda bows briefly before recounting what had happened. “The Uchiha District was attacked.”

Kakashi nodded curtly, taking the lead and heading for the large clan district. He could smell it the second they got within ten meters of the area. Blood. So much of it that it was all Kakashi could smell, overwhelming even the scent of Rin’s perfumey coconut shampoo that usually clouded his senses. 

The place was a  _ disaster.  _ Bodies littered the floor by the entrance, obviously having been trying to escape before they were taken down. Kakashi looked around steadily, even as his heart pounded in his chest. They were  _ everywhere.  _ Dead men and women…  _ children,  _ a few of them. Rin gasped beside him, bringing a hand up to cover where her mouth was under the ceramic turtle mask. 

There were already a few other ANBU inside, checking bodies for signs of life before nodding their heads negative to their teammates. Kakashi quickly strode over to one of them, recognizing the purple hair to be Yugao’s. She stood at attention as he approached, hands by her sides and shoulders straight.

“We started checking the bodies, Captain,” she stated, and  _ shit her voice was shaking, Yugao’s voice never shook.  _ Kakashi could understand it. They had seen massacres as bad as this, with so many casualties, had been the  _ cause  _ of such genocide before, but  _ never  _ had it been their own people.

“We haven’t found a survivor yet, but we just got here.” He’d expected as much. The smell of death was basically wafting off the place.

“Where do you need us to check?” Rin asked, voice hard with repressed emotion.

Yugao glanced at her captain, unsure about giving her superior a command, but Kakashi just nodded. “The houses,” she whispered, pointing to a small building with the door hanging open.

Kakashi headed off without another word, signalling to Rin to check the house next to his and meet out front when she was done. 

He scouted out around the living room and kitchen before heading up the stairs. There was a couple laying in their bed up there, but with a glance Kakashi knew they were already dead. He approached them, inspecting their state.

The woman’s throat had been slit, as had the man’s. There was something  _ wrong, _ about it though. The blood on their sheets and floor was too sticky and dry to have been fresh. There was a fly picking at the woman’s throat. 

This had happened a few hours ago, at least. 

As had the rest of the massacre, Kakashi soon found out. Anko, in hushed whispers, more serious than he had heard her in years, told him that people were suspecting that a silencing barrier had been put up around the entire district. Kakashi had already been mulling over this.

“That type of jutsu… it takes a strong shinobi,” Anko muttered as they inspected the body-covered streets together. “Especially for such a large area.”

Kakashi stayed silent, checking what had to be the 30th body in the five minutes he’d been here.

“You know who did it. I know who did it. You can say it, captain.”

“Maybe. It requires further inspection.” He wouldn’t admit to it,  _ couldn’t  _ say that it was the little thirteen year old boy he had been training, because if he said it, it would be true. 

“Yeah, you’re right. But where is he, though?” Anko prodded, insistent.

“Anko,” Kakashi whispered, but it was enough to make the younger woman back off. She resumed her body-searching, quieter now.

Kakashi turned his head to the sound of commotion a few houses down. There were a bunch of ANBU hovering over someone, a boy, Kakashi noted as he drew closer. 

Rin was running a medical ninjutsu over his body, checking for injuries. He stood over her shoulder next to three other ANBU. 

“He’s okay. We should take him to a hospital anyway, though.” She let another shinobi pick him up and shunshin away from the district, turning to Kakashi.

“Was that…”

“Yeah. Sasuke Uchiha.” She huffed, running a hand through her hair.

“Itachi’s younger brother,” Kakashi stated in response. There was no way in hell he could deny it now. He tried to picture the little thirteen year old boy who adored his mother and clan,  _ slaughtering them all in a night. _

They spent the rest of the night packing bodies into scrolls for burial. Afterwards, they all disputed to head home, or for missions. The massacre would be announced in the morning, after the village had woken up. They heard the alarms, they knew something bad had happened, but something so… disastrous… would be a surprise.

Kakashi grit his teeth as he ran across the rooftops. Rin grabbed for his hand at his side, and he squeezed the smaller hand once, leading her back home.

  
  


It was weird, having someone that you taught and killed with being the main interest of a massacre. A massacre of said interest’s  _ family,  _ their whole community wiped out in a few hours. 

Rin had never taken Itachi for a cold-blooded killer. She’d fought side by side with him on Team Ro for two years, and it was evident that he never enjoyed killing. He saw it as a necessity, something that was his responsibility to do. He was a good kid, who cared about his mother and little brother like nothing else, who had manners and a maturity surpassing his age.

So of course it was a surprise that he was missing, seemingly run away during or after the massacre. There were few positive conclusions to draw from that. 

They stopped by their place first to clean up and change, Kakashi had gagged at the sheer smell of  _ death  _ wafting off of them, suddenly grateful for his mask blocking the prominent scent. 

Naruto was next on their list, as it was bordering on 7 A.M and he would be waking up for school soon. Kakashi was adamant on the boy skipping the school day, saying that most other kids would when their parents found out about the tragedy. 

Rin unlocked the door, her hand shaking slightly around the key. Naruto wasn’t up yet, so she headed back to wake him while Kakashi started on some breakfast for him. 

“G’morning Kaka-nii,” Naruto smiled sleepily at him as he settled on a barstool, eyeing the eggs in the pan Kakashi was fiddling with. 

“Good morning, Naruto.” He caught Rin’s eye as she exited from the back, nodding subtly at him. 

“How do you feel about skipping school today? The three of us can spend the day together.” Kakashi forced a small smile from beneath his mask, though his heart was pounding so heavily that he was confident the other two could see it jumping out of his chest. He felt sick. A thirteen year old he  _ knew,  _ the nerdy and strangely normal thirteen year old, who hadn’t even hit puberty yet had killed his _ entire clan.  _

“ _ YEAH!”  _ Naruto exclaimed, pulling Kakashi out of his darkening thoughts and jumping off of his stool to come around and wrap his skinny arms around Kakashi’s torso. 

“Can you teach me a new jutsu? Please, please, please-” 

“Maybe another time, Naruto,” Rin interrupted from the kitchen entryway. “We need to talk first though.”

“ _ Awww,”  _ Naruto huffed in disappointment, pulling away from Kakashi and turning towards Rin. “I didn’t even do anything!”

Rin smiled softly in amusement. “It’s not about  _ you,  _ goof. We’ll talk about it once Kakashi finishes breakfast.” She took Naruto’s hand, taking him to the living room and asking him about school and homework. It felt too normal. It felt  _ too normal  _ for the events that transpired not even half a day ago.

He’d heard about Shisui. Maybe that was what finally drove Itachi over the edge, the suicide of his best friend. It wouldn’t be understandable, but it would make sense. 

Kakashi shook his head, shuffling the eggs out onto a plate and sprinkling salt onto them. No use pondering on it right now. 

He handed the food to Naruto and settled down next to Rin. Their eyes met, a shared  _ how are we going to do this  _ passing between them.

“Naruto.” Kakashi sighed, “Sasuke Uchiha is in your class, right?” 

The boy nodded, looking worried at Kakashi’s serious tone. 

“Well, last night something very bad happened to the Uchiha clan,” Rin stated forlornly. “A massacre,” she faltered and paused to reign in her grief. “All the Uchiha except for Sasuke were killed.” Her voice was shaking, Kakashi noted as he placed his hand comfortingly on his friend’s back.

Naruto looked utterly confused, unable to comprehend the massive loss. “Sasuke’s not going to be back at school for a while. And when or if he does come back, he might be a lot different. He’s going to be dealing with a lot,” Kakashi finished uncertainly.

Naruto looked down at his food with a frown and furrowed eyebrows. “Oh,” was all he said, picking at his meal with much less enthusiasm than before. Looking at him, Kakashi was painfully reminded of Kushina, who’d been best friends with Mikoto Uchiha. He wonders what  _ her  _ reaction to Mikoto’s death would have been. Would she have looked like this? Kakashi can’t remember one time he’d seen Kushina sad.

They sat there in silence for what felt like hours disguised as minutes, mourning for a clan not their own. Mourning for Obito, who, though he was never close with them, was an Uchiha nonetheless, and who would be crying waterfalls over their deaths if he had lived past 12 years old. Mourning for the children, and the mothers, and the fathers, all killed as if they were nothing more than a mound of ants. Mourning for Sasuke, who would have to carry out the rest of his life with the weight of his deceased clan on his shoulders. 

  
  


Rin spent that night at the Memorial Stone, staring at Obito’s name carved into the smooth marble. She still remembers that night vividly, doing an eye transplant on Kakashi, watching as Obito died, half-crushed beneath a ton of rock. It made her sick. Would he have survived the massacre? He was no prodigy, but Obito definitely had some potential tucked under his belt. If he had lived…

She wished that she had gotten to see him grow up, and become the man he always dreamed of being. Maybe he wouldn’t have become Hokage -- or even ANBU, the softie -- but she didn’t doubt that he would have been an excellent shinobi. 

Naruto was a lot like him. With his loud clothes and positive attitude, he was almost a blonde carbon copy of her childhood friend. It made her heart ache in a way it hadn’t since Kushina and Minato’s passing.

She stroked her thumb over Obito’s name once more before turning and heading back home. Her family was waiting on her. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i should really make outlines before writing i promise im not usually this disorganized 😭 thank you for reading nonetheless

**Author's Note:**

> the chapter titles are all (until i run out) going to be from the song "run boy run" by woodkid
> 
> thank you so much for reading! i really appreciate it!


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